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Emma and I had a lot to cover in this podcast, catching up from our last session, which was a little more than a month ago. A lot of fights, a lot of fighters to talk about, what’s going on with us and our topic for today: eating in Thailand. When we left off last time we were both preparing to fight that same night. We fought on opposite sides of the Gulf of Thailand. And then there was all this catching up to do! We talk a bit about our fights and what we’ve been up to. I had some great fights and got cut, which kept me out of the ring for about 30 days, then I had a fighting spree and was brought over to Singapore to visit my 8limbs.us sponsors, Onyx MMA.

We talk about a number of fighters and some huge events that are a little bit out of order, but here’s the Cliff’s Notes: On the 1st Emma fought Krataitong Por. Promin, who I’ve also fought. And I faced Faa Chiangrai Sor. Sakuntong, then fought her again and won her 105 lbs Muay Siam Northern Title, for which was subsequently declared ineligible in a somewhat dubious fashion – I still consider myself the de facto holder of the title as I won it outright. Fani Peloumpi is a Greek fighter out of Sasiprapa Gym and fought at the Wai Nai Khanomtom Day in Ayutthaya and did great, then fought three days later at the second official “One Round Knockout,” where she first fought Marcela Soto (Costa Rica, fighting out of Sutai on Phuket), and then going on to win the final against Thailand’s Zaza Sor Aree, a former WPMF champion. Also on that card were Janice Lyn (Canada out of Kaewsamrit in Bangkok) against Namtan Por. Muangpet for a 126 lbs WPMF title. It was their 3rd fight in 7 months and a rubbermatch, ending with Namtan taking the title (you can watch that video).Ashley Nichols (Canada out of Kaewsamrit) defeated Kwanjai Sor. Tawanrung for a 122 lbs WPMF Title. And I fought Duangdaonoi Looklongtan, who was WMPF World Champion at 105 lbs last year. On the first day of Songkran was a big event in Bangkok, which I fought on and Emma and Tu came to support me. It’s so rare that we get to be in the same room with each other when watching fights (let alone when one of us is fighting), so we got to witness some of those together, which we talk about in the podcast. Fani also had an incredible display in her fight, which Emma and I both enjoyed watching but it didn’t make the televised portion of the show and I haven’t found any video yet.

Some of the fights we talk about below:

The highlight fights from the show, all for titles: Ticha RR Gilakhorat vs Nong Em Wor Santai (We don’t actually cover this fight in the podcast, but I have the video and Ticha really annoyed me in the fight, so I include it here. She’s a possible future opponent.)

We also talk about Thanonchanok‘s defense of her 112 lb WPMF title against Sophia, with a very uncharacteristic 5th round from Thanonchanok, one of my favorite fighters. Below is a poor, but still watchable copy of the fight:

Food and Eating in Thailand

Our “theme” for this podcast is food and eating in Thailand, which is a huge topic but we figured it’s something that applies to any length of stay in the country. And food is one of the great joys of Thailand. There are some differences in short-term and long-term stay diet plans and eating habits, including the relative rareness of having a kitchen in your apartment and how inexpensive street food is. You can manage cooking for yourself college-dorm-hot-plate style, as Emma did in her room after the first two years and before moving to a condo with a proper kitchen, and we also talk a bit about the unfamiliar ingredients of Thai markets, as well as access to and price of imported (more familiar) products. Also included: Emma’s hilarious doughnut fiasco, how Sylvie fools the Somdum cart into making the salad to her liking, the difficulty/ease with which you can make requests at restaurants vs. street stalls, and why the hell you are gaining weight while sweating your ass off in training.

Thailand Rape Culture and Awareness

Finally, we talk about Emma’s recent blog post on “Rape Culture in Thailand,” which has been picked up by Thai media and pretty much gone viral. She writes about the ubiquitous rape scene of Thai soap operas (which are insanely popular among viewers and absolutely part of common Thai consumption) and how that intersects with the beliefs about rape, victimhood and manhood held by many Thais. It’s a very important subject for those of us seeking to train in, or even live in, a Muay Thai camp, which is a male sport and a male space. In these soaps, rape is used as a way to control women – as it is in any culture – but it’s also a means to secure a lasting relationship or even a business deal. What?! Give it a listen and check out Emma’s post, and women can also join the discussion in the Women’s Only section of the Roundtable Forum on how this relates to training in Thailand.

We also introduce the new “Vox” anonymous profile for the Roundtable. It’s for women on the forum who want a deeper level of anonymity in order to tell their more sensitive stories – a way to give a voice to the voiceless in the hope that being able to share these difficult stories will help those who feel stifled to speak up, and in doing so may be helping a great many others. If you want to know more about Vox and you are already a female member of our forum read our Vox introduction thread; or, if you aren’t a member yet, please do sign up. If you want to write privately to me or Emma, we can be contacted through our websites 8limbs.us (Sylvie) and Under the Ropes (Emma)

The video didn’t work out great for our podcast this month, but we were able to record our talking faces for this section where Emma discusses her Rape Culture awareness article. It takes a minute for Emma’s camera to catch up:

A 100 lb. (46 kg) female Muay Thai fighter. Originally I trained under Kumron Vaitayanon (Master K) and Kaensak sor. Ploenjit in New Jersey. I then moved to Thailand to train and fight full time in April of 2012, devoting myself to fighting 100 Thai fights, as well as blogging full time. Having surpassed 100, and then 200, becoming the westerner with the most fights in Thailand, in history, my new goal is to fight an impossible 471 times, the historical record for the greatest number of documented professional fights (see western boxer Len Wickwar, circa 1940), and along the way to continue documenting the Muay Thai of Thailand in the Muay Thai Library project: see patreon.com/sylviemuay